Of the three major console manufacturers we only know when Nintendo is set to release its next generation console. The Wii U again looks to be going for something a bit different rather than pushing the enevelope in terms of processing power and graphical capabilities. However, the PS4 and Xbox 720 are expected to follow the same path as they always have: offering more processing power, better visuals, and more scope for involved gameplay and realistic experiences.

Although we don’t know when the next consoles from Sony and Microsoft will arive, AMD is starting to drop hints about the capabilities of the next Xbox.

AMD is thought to be providing the GPU(s) that will sit inside the Xbox 720, so it should be an authority on what it is capable of graphically at least. A comment made in the August issue of OXM by Neal Robison, director of ISV relationships for AMD, states that we should expect to be seeing visuals like Avatar. So that’s real-time renders of the quality seen in James Cameroon‘s movie as standard on the next Xbox.

Such a graphical jump is realistic when you consider the hardware the PS3 and Xbox 360 use today. We now see crisp HD graphics running on a 6-year-old processor and GPU combination. In the case of the 360, it runs a tri-core 3.2GHz PowerPC chip, where as today we commonly see 4, 6, 8, and even 12 cores processors in use running at similar speeds. GPU-wise, it only has a 500MHz ATI chip, and the system only carries 512MB RAM. Graphics cards today typically run above 800MHz and have 1-2GB of dedicated memory alongside 2-4GB of system memory.

What the final hardware configuration will be inside the next round of consoles depends on when they launch. It could be another couple of years before we see a new Xbox, at which point an 8 or 12 core processor, GPU with a gigabyte of dedicated RAM, and multiple gigabytes of system memory will be both cheap enough for use in a console as well as capable of producing such visuals.

It’s not just about the visuals, though, and Robison also stated that physics and AI would be a major step up on the current consoles. The example he gave was that every pedestrian in Grand Theft Auto can be an individual if the developer decides to go that route.

One of the few companies capable of showing off what the next-generation of games will look like is Epic Games which develops the Unreal Engine and must provide the engine ahead of time to cater for the new hardware. In March they showcased a graphics demo with Nvidia that gives us a good idea of what to expect an Xbox 720 and PS4 to be capable of.

While the prospect of Avatar-like visuals and worlds full of intelligent, different AI characters will have gamers excited, it will prove a problem for developers as team sizes will need to grow in order to deliver such quality in a realistic time period. Bigger teams means higher costs that must inevitably get passed on to the consumers buying the games.

Reader Comments

Firepower9966

this is old seen before at least a year or so ago

Spaz

Yeah, I don’t think so…
The processing power required to render Avatar like CGI is beyond the scope of what any next gen gaming system will offer. This is another case of a higher up talking out of his a$$, and providing false information. http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/332337/how_do_they_do_it_avatar_special_effects/. One would need lots of time and processing power to render Avatar like CGI, what people fail to realize is that to render 5 min of CGI you need time, a lot more than is available or affordable to a game designer. Imagine being a gamer waiting 50 min to watch 5 min of video, lol.

a_brit

Hey Matthew, come on.

It is bull crap on a massive scale, the next gen consoles will have no where near the power of the supercomputers used in rendering Avatar. Why print this drivel?

Speculation is fine of course.

Would the potential of an 8 core processor be reached by a game? I’d guess probably not for a while since PC games have still not fully used 4 cores yet. 4Gb of system RAM should be easy enough to house in both consoles. A powerful graphics card with a dedicated 2Gb of RAM min. This still doesn’t sound more powerful than alot of PC’s, they’d start behind current levels of PC’s… there must be something more to come that we are not aware of.

Anonymous

Watch this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_375012&v=AXjsMRDPrls&feature=iv
The hardware we have today is more than capable (okay pretty darn close). It just requires mods to see what the modeler sees… BTW the game was created that way to begin with, graphics cards scale that stuff down to minimum spec.
Oh and apparently said mods cause gfx card burnup :o
Poor coding is another reason why we need such powerhouses for graphics sake… also another problem is incremental technology upgrades rather than something that blows everything out of the water… That might be the reason why some people choose not to invest in a gaming rig – because a lot of people take for granted that a computer is actually an investment and not a toy.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001042116967 Charles Ammon

and what did you pay in bids???? how come you didn’t reveal that? quit wasting peoples time!!!!!!!

It is perfectly reasonable to expect near future (or possibly even current) GPU’s to be able to do rendering close to Avatar’s quality in RT. Avatar is 3 years old now? that means it was rendered on 4-5 year old tech (at least). That is a long time in tech years.

http://profiles.google.com/willrandship William Shipley

And avatar used the equivalent of several thousand of those new, shiny cards to render its scenes. Sorry, but technology doesn’t grow that fast.

Seljo Myeri

True, but the efficiency is much lower since the interconnects are slower. GPU’s cores are directly connected on chip. Not saying today’s GPU’s are exactly equivalent to the render farm Avatar used, but they are equivalent to what many CGI render farms were 5-10 years ago. What we can do today on GPU took render farms only 5-10 years ago. I expect that to continue. Plus, these renderings don’t always do things the most efficient way, since they are not trying to achieve RT, they won’t cut some corners for speed that could be cut and no one notice.

Matt34533

Sorry but the Xbox 720 isn’t going to have the power of 3 GTX 580’s which were required to render the Samaritan Demo. We’d be lucky if its as powerful as a single GTX 580 and a 2500k. Very lucky. And the Samaritan is nowhere near Avatar quality so you can forget about that.

Anonymous

The avatar comparison was obviously hyperbole but this is a console that will be released years in the future.. I would expect it to easily surpass any GPUs on the market today for PC. They need to future-proof these machines for another 6-7 years like they did with the xbox 360. Obviously the 360 is beginning to show its age now, but back in 2005, the GPU was advanced even by PC standards and MSFT took a big loss with each console for quite awhile before they became profitable.

Also, the Samaritan is obviously in very early stages.. it will certainly be optimized to the point where it can run on a single 580.

Anonymous

The avatar comparison was obviously hyperbole but this is a console that will be released years in the future.. I would expect it to easily surpass any GPUs on the market today for PC. They need to future-proof these machines for another 6-7 years like they did with the xbox 360. Obviously the 360 is beginning to show its age now, but back in 2005, the GPU was advanced even by PC standards and MSFT took a big loss with each console for quite awhile before they became profitable.

Also, the Samaritan is obviously in very early stages.. it will certainly be optimized to the point where it can run on a single 580.

Twon

I really doubt that the PS3 or Xbox 720 would be able to produce in game graphics on the level of the avatar movie. Thats BS if you ask me. Though i know that they will be able to produce some sick looking visuals. I mean look at games like Uncharted 3, Heavy rain, RAGE, Skyrim, and the new Tomb raider. Those games all look amazing IMO and they are running on 5 and 6 year old consoles, so i cannot wait to see what PS4 and 720 can do, especially for my favorite game series like GTA, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Metal Gear, Uncharted, Halo, and Mass Effect!!

Anonymous

No. Current cards cannot render real time frames at the equal in quality and resolution to non-RT frames a render farm could generate 5 years ago. It may be getting closer than an order of magnitude less, but not close to equal.

http://www.facebook.com/john.l.taylor2 John L. Taylor

The current Generation consoles fell short of the hype, these will too.

Anthony

Think of the amount of modeling the artists would have to do to make a game on the PS4 and Xbox 720! Avatar took forever for it to be made and rendered (with ray-tracing and other fancy effects you can’t do those in real-time yet even on the next-gen consoles. That’ll be coming in the “id 6″ engine on the pc yearssss from now.

The advances in technology will make the development of games increase not only in develop time but also development costs. Every company will need to hire more 3D Modelers and the like to make their games. That will limit creativity I think because game developers may not be willing to take a chance on unique game ideas paired with what the standard of graphics will be.

Nope

Hah. Reminds me of when Sony said years ago that the PS2 could produce Toy Story-level graphics.

Tut89

If the graphics are anything like that video then sign me up

Gregoryvg

The PS2 can, just not in real time :) Give it a couple days and I’m sure it could churn out a frame of Toy-Story level graphics :)

Gregoryvg

The PS2 can, just not in real time :) Give it a couple days and I’m sure it could churn out a frame of Toy-Story level graphics :)

Julio Alcantara

the ps3 and xbox 360 where 2 years ahead of everything in 2006

Julio Alcantara

the type of graphics you see in games like games like crysis will be a low level game on xbox 720 when it comes to graphics so there is not reason why the xbox 720 could not make a game that looks like the movie avatar it wont be 8k res or somthing crazy like that but it can put out a game running at 720p or 1080p running at 30fps that looks vary close to avatar im sure it will